IT ALL STARTED WHEN…

I bought my first antique sewing machine in 1978. My fiance and I were shopping in an antiques store, and I found one that I fell in love with and had to have!

I had already been sewing for a while, and already had a nice machine, but there was something so inspiring about this one. I would sit and look at it and dream of things that may have been done with it. Then I would wonder about the future of sewing as well as the past.....

Fast forward to the 1980's. My in-laws were visiting when I brought home my first embroidery machine. Instead of making dinner, I plunked that machine down on the kitchen counter and started embroidering! I was mesmerized by watching those designs take form. At that time, I was also doing a little quilting with my regular sewing machine. I was piecing on the machine, and doing all of the quilting by hand. Now I could add embroidered blocks to my quilts!

As years went by, I wanted a way to finish those quilts faster, and started dreaming about a longarm quilting machine. Yes, I've been down that road too. And that only left one more dream in my mind. What if I could combine quilting with embroidery.....all on the same machine? That would be the BEST, right?

Well, here it is 40 years later. I have never stopped sewing in all of that time. I wish I had a picture of everything I have ever done! And now, my dream has finally been realized. My Innova longarm quilting machine has an embroidery module on it that's called Grand Format Embroidery! Now, I am only limited to 14 feet of embroidery area! Yes, you read that right --- 14 feet! There is no stopping me now! With Innova, the future is NOW!

When you bring your quilts to Candy Apple Quilts, you have complete access to the type of quilting --- and now embroidery! --- that will be used on your heirlooms! Everything from designs to thread color is up to you --- the designer. Call 440-371-6409 today to schedule an appointment to create your next treasure! Leave a voicemail or send a text, please, just in case I miss your call -- I would really like to meet you!

I just can't believe that it has finally happened! I am soooo excited! Innova Longarm Quilt machines now have the ability to embroider! It wasn't that long ago that I wondered about the possibility of combining my two favorite things --- quilting and embroidery--- and now the future has arrived!

Just imagine having a hoop that is 20 inches high by......almost 14 feet long! Yes, you read that right. Fourteen FEET. The possibilities are endless. I can use designs that I have already designed (or purchased) in a DST format. I bring them into the Mach 3 software on my Innova machine and I am ready to stitch!

The first day I tried the new Grand Format Embroidery, I was able to quilt a project first, and then add embroidery to it. It reminds me of a vintage approach.

The second time I tried it, I made a cross-hatched kind of background with bubbles and then added embroidery to that.

For my third project, I decided to try applique right on the quilt machine! I pre-cut my daisies using a Brother Scan N Cut machine. First I quilted the table runner, then I ironed on the applique pieces, and then I embroidered them. To finish it off, I quilted the border and then added binding. Ta da!

The pattern for this runner is available to owners of Innova Grand Format Embroidery users in our shop. Please contact robin@CandyAppleQuilts.com if you own a Gammill machine with Statler Stitcher and an embroidery machine, and I can make the files available to you for stitching.

This quilt was partially hand quilted, and then Elaine decided to try stitching the outer border on her sewing machine. After trying to tackle something so large on her home machine, she called me to ask if I could finish it for her. Only half of her blocks were cross-hatched, and none of the sashes or cornerstones were stitched. There were lots of basting threads holding everything together, and grey pencil marks in all of the backgrounds on the un-stitched blocks!

Elaine had drawn a cable pattern around the outer border of the quilt, and managed to complete machine stitching the entire area. The remaining sections to be finished were all of the sashes, the cornerstones, and half of the cross-hatched blocks. The beautiful applique needed to be held in place too.

Elaine has been doing hand-applique for a long time, and has really shown that she is ready (willing and able!) to tackle any pattern she wants to try. With numerous projects started, she really wanted to see this one finished. It was going to be a gift for a special family member.

I duplicated her cross-hatching and chose the designs for her sashes and blocks. After the quilt was finished, she was thrilled with the results. Enjoy the gallery below to see close-ups of the blocks in Elaine’s quilt.

What happens when you walk past a vintage piece of linen? You stop in your tracks, back up, and take it home with you! This is the piece that I found, and it just spoke to me....
I envisioned quilting this piece, and adding to the life of something that had been lovingly stitched many years ago.

Adding three layers behind the original, I began the journey of joy. The piece already had hand-stitched carnations and a beautiful crocheted border along the edge. I wanted to keep those features, and also highlight the hand-stitched bow and fan details. I added lots of quilting, and I am very happy with the results!

This vintage table runner has now been added to the Quilts for Sale category! Only $175.00 for a short time, offering you an introductory price!

Recently, I was lucky enough to meet Carolyn Burgess, the owner of Applique, Quilts, and More. She has the most wonderful applique kits, and they are all available with or without fusible on the back. I think that's a great idea, because sometimes I like to do needle-turn applique, and I prefer not to have any fusible on my pieces. She has lots of themes to choose from, and her Christmas blocks are my very favorite! Carolyn brought her quilt over, and we decided on an overall motif --- quilting right through her appliques. There are lots of opinions on this because some people think that you can never do that with a fused applique because there is too much stiffness. These appliqued pieces were soft and had a very nice drape, so there was no problem at all stitching right through them.

Another fun thing about Carolyn's approach to this quilt is that you can order individual blocks and make as many projects as you can imagine just using your favorites! For instance, I love the cardinals that are featured in the Applique Christmas Block of the Month section, and I would like to do a few of them as gifts. I can buy as many of those sections as I want, without having to buy an entire kit! And better yet, I can send a favorite fabric of mine to Carolyn, and she will cut my pieces out of my fabric for me! She really has a great selection of pieces, and I can see lots of future inspiration coming from her pre-cut applique pieces and kits. She has just saved a lot of time for me!

I was thrilled when Barbara brought this quilt in to be finished! I love anything patriotic, and this was a true original! It's based on a Lone Star quilt, with the different areas being changed to suit the design of the eagle in the center section. Barbara took it a step further though, and added her own ideas for the borders. Using her embroidery software, she added lettering in the large outer border, and also appliqued swags.

I love the circle of stars that she designed!

And the back is striking too, because we decided to use various colors to match the stitching on the front:

All of the pictures are below. Make sure to "open" them by clicking on each one, and then clicking again, so that you can make them larger and see all of the detail.

We've had so many requests for finished quilts! In response to those requests, we have decided to start featuring completed quilts, and making them available to you for purchase. Just in time for Valentine's Day, our Love Quilt is the first quilt in a new venture for Candy Apple Quilts! This quilt measures 60 inches by 53 inches -- just the right size for snuggling with your sweetheart. There are eight different shades of red and pink 100% cotton fabrics. The border features a double heart stitched in each section, with a scalloped outer edge. The binding is finished completely by hand, with the quality that you have come to expect from Candy Apple Quilts. Small hearts are stitched in the center area -- and the center square has a light feather design. Please click on each of the pictures below to enlarge them, and look at the fine details. This item has a 100% satisfaction guarantee! If you aren't happy for any reason, just return the quilt to Candy Apple Quilts in it's original condition, and you will receive a refund of your purchase price. Order yours today to receive it in time for Valentine's Day. Just 299.99 plus shipping. Only one available, so order quickly!

I love vintage quilts, and I love 1930's reproduction fabrics! This pretty quilt was done by Susan Mars, owner of All About Blanks, where you can see the most gorgeous linens and holiday items. Susan is so creative, and she created the layout for this quilt by combining the best ideas from different sources and sprinkling them with her imagination!

I asked Susan how she created this adorable quilt, and here is what she has to say...

"The idea for this quilt began as a Block of the month club from Grandma's Attic." Wanting to expand upon the idea, and do something fun with the setting, Susan went to Block Central and found an idea in the 2008 "Somewhere In Time" quilt. Says Susan, "...it worked out PERFECTLY for my 1930's block of the month. I made it a little scrappy, using a variety of the 1930's repros for my sashing. I adore the way it turned out. I have always wanted to do a 1930's reproduction quilt ...".

Christmas is my favorite time of year, and this quilt tops my list of things that can make me start singing Christmas carols! While working on this beautiful quilt, I could imagine cookies baking, twinkling lights, and the sound of jingle bells.

Bev did a beautiful job piecing this quilt from The Quilt Company, and it was truly a joy for me to do the quilting on it! The quilt is called Holly Lane, and you can see it here. We decided to use Christmas bells, holly leaves, hearts, and stars in the separate borders to add even more fun to the quilt. Each of the four corners has a crisp snowflake. Bev still has a little more work to do. There are red buttons to be sewn on all the way around the outer border, tiny door knobs to add, slower buttons in the windows, and hand-stitched smoke from one of the chimneys. A dark green binding will finish the edges of this quilt. Each house features a layer of high-loft polyester batting to make it really stand out from the background.

Border panic? Quilting condition? Surprise hiccup? Just what can you say when you approach a section of a wonderfully pieced quilt that has a tricky situation that you didn't notice before mounting the quilt top on the machine? This quilt has lots of gorgeous fabrics in it, and the blocks and borders were nice and flat when I looked at the quilt laying flat on a table. After I had done a row or two, something on the left side caught my eye. What's that?!?!?! Oh my gosh, where did that come from? It was a pucker that appeared overnight when I wasn't looking!

After rolling back and forth a couple of times, I noticed that there were a few of the sneaky little devils in this border. Funny thing, though.... every other border was perfect.

I decided to stabilize the entire area, because it was too late to take the quilt off of the machine and remove the borders. This is how it looked with a little stitch in the ditch to hold all of the layers in place:

Time to heat up the steam iron. It never ceases to amaze me how much excess I can remove with just a gentle shot of steam. (Hint ..... this works particularly well when the fabrics have not been steamed during the assembly process. I have been asking all of my customers if they used steam during piecing whenever I see an issue with their quilts.)After just two shots of steam, the fabric was already starting to behave better.

Since this border was on the side of the quilt, I decided to wait until the entire quilt was finished before I turned it to deal with this problem. Traveling through the rest of the quilt was easy, and I made sure that everything remained nice and square. After finishing, I turned the quilt and remounted it to work on this border. One more shot of steam now. I kept both hands near the needle as the design stitched, enabling any excess to be evenly distributed. The finished border was perfectly flat in the trouble area:

You can see that the problem did not migrate further down the border:

I would recommend this method for borders -- or blocks -- that are giving you trouble with puffiness!

I recently received a quilt top from Linda at Putting You In Stitches. I love her sense of humor! She had been working on these log cabin blocks in her spare time (what's that? LOL!) and after making so many of them, she just wanted to be DONE ALREADY! Rather than face the idea that she would need to make twice as many as she already had finished for this large quilt, we decided to try an experiment.

Linda took very accurate measurements of her quilt top along the four sides, and most importantly, through the centers in each direction. She cut five inch wide borders in the same colors that she had used for the log cabin blocks, and added those wide borders to her pieced center area. The extra time that she took to do her measuring made this quilt top lay perfectly flat -- and made it a joy to quilt!

The design in the center is a pattern from Anne Bright called Playful Paisley. This design has appeal to any age, and any gender. The four designs in the outer borders are also from various Anne Bright collections. Border number 1 (the blue border) has the coordinating Playful Paisley design, border 2 is called Swirling Double, border 3 is from the collection Bending In The Wind, and the white outer border is also from the Playful Paisley collection.

Enjoy the pictures! Note --- if you click on a picture to open it, and then click on it again, you will be able to see all of the details!

There's nothing better than having someone come to pick up her quilt, and having her give me a giant hug! Karen worked hard on this adorable quilt for her little grand-daughter, and it was worth every minute. Her piecing is perfect, the applique is precise and smooth, and the finished project is wonderful!

Karen wanted to have a quilting design that reflected something to go along with the puppy theme. We chose a design from Vickie Maleski that has small bones and paw prints. She requested that there be no quilting on the puppy appliques that surround the outer border.

All the quilting was done to surround the puppys, but not stitch over them. Karen is deciding if she would like to leave the puppys unquilted (as shown in the original pattern), or if she would like to add some hand quilting to them. The quilt is adorable just as it is, but the nice thing about adding hand-quilting is that she can add it at a later date, even after the quilt has been laundered numerous times. Now that's flexibility!

..... use paper plates!"
That's the name of the most recent quilt from a fantastic artist Kim Montagnese. This quilt is a new twist on the old favorite Broken Dishes. Kim added lots of fun to this quilt pattern with a new method of applique, rubber stamping, and even silverware! My favorite part is the expression stamped on the quilt top that says "You can lead me to the kitchen, but you can't make me cook". That's fits me perfectly!

Kim wanted "fun" quilting on this one! Here are some pictures:

There's a cute story about what happened when Kim was working on this quilt over at her blog Colorz My World. She had a little "boo boo" that needed a band-aid -- literally!

Kim sells her patterns, and teaches fun classes on making them. You can reach her by sending an email to Kim Montagnese at Montagnese@oh.rr.com.

This pattern goes together very quickly, and gives you lots of open space in the center for adding embroidery and appliqué! There are only 14 blocks to piece, and two outer borders, so it will be on your table quickly.

For free directions to make this tablecloth project, write to us and you will receive a PDF file right away. Simply send an email to Robin@CandyAppleQuilts.com with "Free Tablecloth" in the subject line.

Lots of people agree that sometimes it's just easier to keep stitching --- right over top of the embroidery! In the case of redwork designs, I think that's very true!

This quilt was done on a Gammill machine with a Statler Stitcher (computerized), and it would have been impossible to stop the machine for each tiny line that I crossed. The stitching is imperceptible on the redwork, and not a distraction at all.

The embroidery designs used in this quilt are from Bonnie Domeny at Threadlove Embroidery, and you can find the collection of all ten ballerinas here.